How to automate Excel work with an AI agent in Slack

1. Pick the Excel work to hand over

Work you do by the same rules every time fits best. For example:

• Merge several files into one sheet, such as each branch's monthly sales.
• Clean a list: remove duplicate rows, put dates and phone numbers in one format and mark the blank cells.
• Make a summary table, such as totals by month or by the person in charge.
• Compare two files and find the rows that changed, such as last month's and this month's client lists.
• Draw a chart from the numbers and get it as an image.

Ara does not sit inside Excel and does not fill in cells for you. It takes the file, works on it in its own work environment and sends the result back as a new file.

2. What you need

• Add Ara to your Slack. Press Add to Slack, then type /invite @Ara in each channel where you will hand it files. It never joins a channel on its own.
• Excel files (.xlsx and .xls) and CSV files work. One message can carry up to 10 files, each up to 50 MB.
• Decide what the result should look like: which columns, in what order, and in which file format.

• How to add Ara to Slack

3. Ask in Slack with the file attached

1. In a channel Ara was invited to, attach the file, mention @Ara in that same message and say what to do. For example: "@Ara merge these three branch sales files into one sheet, put the total for each branch on the first sheet and send it back as an Excel file."
2. Say which format you want back: an Excel file, a CSV or a chart image. Ara is instructed to give you the format you asked for.
3. The result comes back in the same thread with the file attached. If something needs changing, mention @Ara in that thread and say what.

Ara works on a copy of the file you uploaded, so the original file in Slack stays as it is.

Files Ara sends back have their own limit: up to 8 MB for an Excel file and 2 MB for a CSV. A result larger than that cannot come back as a file, so for a very large result ask for a summary table instead, or split the work into smaller parts.

If your team does not use Slack, you can upload the file in the dashboard chat instead, up to 25 MB per file.

4. Check the numbers before you use them

For data work, Ara is instructed to look over the file first (rows, columns, blank cells, date range), to calculate with a script instead of in its head, and to check that the totals add up. When a term is unclear, such as what counts as an active customer, it is told to ask once and write the answer in its reply.

Ara is still an AI, so a number can be wrong. Ask it to put the row count and the total of the original next to those of the result, then check a few rows against the original yourself. For money, tax and payroll, a person should make the final check.

5. Excel work you do every week

The simplest way is to keep the request you wrote once and send it again with each new file.

If the data lives in Google Sheets, Ara can read it at a set time. Connect Google Sheets and set up a standing job, such as every Monday at 9 a.m., and Ara reads the sheet and posts the summary in a Slack channel. Only a workspace admin can set up a new standing job, and it runs with the apps connected by the person who made it.

• What Ara does in Google Sheets
• How to set up a standing job

6. Who sees the files

Ara's answer and the files it sends go to the thread you asked in, so everyone in that channel can open them. Hand over payroll files, customer lists and anything else only some people should see in a DM with Ara.

Each file Ara makes is also saved in Ara with its own link. By default, anyone who has that link can open it without signing in. Ara is instructed to close the link on a file that holds what should not leave the company, such as customer records. To be sure, say "close the link on this file" in the same thread. Only the person who asked for a file can change who sees it.

7. What it costs

Each request Ara finishes uses credits: usually one, plus a little for any data lookups (Ara pulling information from a paid outside data source). A failed run has no task cost, though the data lookups it made still count. Asking for a fix in the thread is a new request and is counted the same way.

Every request comes out of the workspace's one credit balance, so the whole team shares it, and when it runs out Ara stops answering until it is topped up.

Every Ara account starts on the Free plan: free credits and no card, so nothing can charge on its own.